Users of a mobile payment app originally from mainland China can now conduct immediate cross-border transfers with real-time currency conversion, the Ant Bank in Macau announced yesterday.
The service is facilitated by Alipay (Macau), the local version of the popular mainland mobile payment service provider. Ant Bank is the operating entity of the app in Macau.
Alipay is widely used in Macau at both physical and online outlets. For example, many Macau shoppers on Taobao, a Chinese online shopping portal, choose to pay using the mobile payment app.
To enjoy better privileges, users may choose to process bank account or identity verification.
The former option will accord a mid-level accreditation to the user, who will be allowed to process funds of up to MOP10,000 daily and MOP100,000 annually. The latter will accord a high-level accreditation and will allow the user to process as much as MOP30,000 daily and MOP250,000 annually.
To use the instant cross-boundary transfer and currency exchange features, users must obtain at least the mid-level accreditation. After which, they will be allowed to transfer their funds to the Mainland bank account in Macau patacas in the name under which their Alipay account is registered. The funds arriving in the mainland bank account will be automatically converted to the Chinese yuan as perat the daily conversion rate of Ant Bank.
During the early stages of the new service, the platform is offering perks to its users. Users will recieve a MOP10 payment fund for the China Telecom and a 30 Chinese yuan spending credit in their mainland Alipay account.
Alipay is confident in the popularity of the new service, believing that it will help users to travel within the Greater Bay Area, in which Macau is a key jurisdiction.
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